So last week, while most of the country was talking about football or
fears of a government shutdown, Rasmussen released a poll that should
worry everyone -- but especially incumbent Democrats in Congress.
According to Rasmussen's survey, most Americans think the IRS broke the law by targeting Tea Party groups for harassment, but few expect it to be punished. Fifty-three percent
think the IRS broke the law by targeting the Tea Party and other
conservative groups like the voter-integrity outfit True The Vote; only
24% disagreed. But only 17% think it is even somewhat likely that anyone will be charged, while 74% think that criminal charges are unlikely.

So a majority of Americans think that government officials who exercise an
important trust broke the law, but only a very small number think
anything will be done to punish them.

There are a couple of lessons to draw from this. One is bad for the
country in general, but the other is bad for congressional Democrats.

The lesson for the country is that trust in the government is very low. ...

Meanwhile, there's another bit of bad news buried in that poll, this
time for Democrats. The bad news is that a majority of Americans thinks
the IRS broke the law even though the news media have consistently downplayed the scandal. But as the scandal has dragged on for months,
word has filtered out anyway. Come 2014, the government's damaged
brand will reflect poorly on members of the president's party,
regardless of media efforts to protect them. Beyond that, the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto has begun calling President Obama "President Asterisk,"
saying that IRS efforts to weaken his opposition in the run-up to the
2012 election devalue Obama's victory the way illegal steroid use
devalues an athlete's record-book standing.